Category Archives: Exercise

In this section you will find posts related to exercise and the brain. Whether you are interested in preventing dementia or a healthy pregnancy, exercise is one of the most impactful brain boosters out there. Aerobic exercise has been proven to improve memory and preserve brain health.

Category: Exercise

In this section you will find posts related to exercise and the brain. Whether you are interested in preventing dementia or a healthy pregnancy, exercise is one of the most impactful brain boosters out there. Aerobic exercise has been proven to improve memory and preserve brain health.

We’re always taught to set a good example for our children, but what if your decision to exercise influenced the health of your future offspring? A recently published study in the journal Diabetes looked at this very question. Continue reading

Despite countless hundreds of millions of dollars dedicated to seeking out a meaningful treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, as of the time of this writing the pharmaceutical promise of dealing with this epidemic remains unfulfilled.

So, if there is no meaningful treatment, it would seem sensible to focus on how Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia could be prevented in the first place.

The journal Neurology recently supplied us with a report that offered practitioners an update on suggested treatments for patients with mild cognitive impairment and declining brain health. Their goal is to help practitioners, like myself, understand the most viable treatment options for aiding our patients. Continue reading

Exercise is a healthy choice no matter how you choose to look at it. Research demonstrating the importance of exercise for cardiovascular health dates back at least four decades. Even more recent research shows how important exercise is for not only brain function, but even in terms of reducing dementia risk.

The importance of gut health, and specifically healthy gut bacteria, has really taken center stage in terms of it’s wide ranging effects on overall health and disease resistance. Relevant to today’s blog post, we are now seeing research that adds gut health to the list of benefits associated with physical exercise. Continue reading

I have spoken at length about the importance of exercise for increasing the gene expression of BDNF, a protein that increases the growth of new brain cells. As previously mentioned, research has shown that people with higher levels of BDNF are at a lower risk of developing dementia.

In this new study, exercise in people age 50 or over is demonstrated to have significant effects on cognition. The report is a meta-analysis, meaning a review of other research publications (in this case, 39 studies). It’s a comprehensive look at how exercise impacts the brain!

Using an elliptical machine is a great way to get your daily aerobic exercise in. It’s low impact and strengthens both lower and upper extremities. But I frequently see a lot of people making this one mistake when on the machine and this can lead to some game-changing foot problems.

Dr. Perlmutter demonstrates triceps extensions, an incredibly important exercise for building a strong body. You can read more about this exercise in The Grain Brain Whole Life Plan, in which Dr. Perlmutter shares his favorite exercises for strengthening and toning your body.

Livestrong offers some further guidance on why strengthening your triceps is critical for your health:

The triceps help stabilize your shoulder joint and they act as an extensor of the elbow and shoulder. As your triceps become stronger with these exercises, the strength and stability of your shoulders and elbows increase. The functionality, flexibility and range of motion of your arm increases the more you work and strengthen these muscles. As a result, your performance improves in sports that require arm movements and upper body strength such as tennis, swimming, volleyball and basketball.

Dr. Perlmutter is one of the leading lights in medicine today, illuminating the path for solving chronic illness. He has been a personal mentor and guide for me in dealing with many complex patients and someone I send my closest friends and family to. His leadership in the new medicine has taken so many of us to a place of new understanding about how we can heal and protect our brains.

Mark Hyman, MD

author of the current bestselling book The Blood Sugar Solution, Founder and Medical Director of The UltraWellness Center, Chairman, Institute for Functional Medicine